Arizona State University research technician and Mars 2020 Mastcam-Z calibration engineer Andy Winhold waited patiently on the loading dock of ASU’s Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building IV in anticipation of the arrival of a very special delivery.

Taking a page from the ride-share industry, Lockheed Martin Space and Arizona State University have set up a nonprofit research collaborative to plan, build and fly condo-style space science missions beginning with a multispacecraft flyby of near-Earth asteroids and...